It may not mean much in terms of substance. Symbolic as it may seem, the more recent Spanish re-identification with the Franco-German European combine in the post-Iraq War era still has a message for the world. It has sent out fresh signals that multi-polarity is still alive and kicking, and a 'New World Order' may be yet to emerge years after the 'Cold War' ended - and is still going through the inevitable processes. <br /> <br /> Independent of the havoc it wrought and the shock-waves it caused, 9/11 has had its strategic relevance in more ways than one. Obviously, it lent greater credence to the 'global war on terrorism' than the rest of the world was willing to confer on it when India was raising a lone voice against the menace. It also caused an occasion for the US to reiterate its prowess in a uni-polar world that was showing signs of stress at the brim and periphery. <br /> <br /> A decade earlier, the 'Kuwait War' had contributed to the US living down the defeatism dating back to the 'Vietnam War'. It occasioned a display of the fly-by-wire military might of the emerging America as the countdown began for a New Millennium, when traditional military theorists had not counted for the 'new blitzkrieg', this one of the American kind. All this meant that the US was ready to lead the world - and be accepted as the leader when the world needed one. <br /> <br /> The post-9/11 'Afghan War' and the subsequent 'Iraq War' that way became a reassertion of American military might. In the process, it demonstrated the purposefulness and usefulness of 'New Age Warfare' comprising computer-controlled precision air-strikes from flotillas. This in turn spared the host Governments the embarrassment of public revulsion over a large number of body bags returning home as it happened to the US during the 'Vietnam War'. Combined with the cause involved, the 'Kuwait War', the 'Afghan War' and the 'Iraq War' not only showed that wars were winnable, but were also morally sound propositions. It is another matter, not all wars concluded the way they were thought out to be. <br /> <br /> Incidentally, all three wars came at a time when the early euphoria over uni-polarity in the post-Cold War era was beginning to be replaced by talks about a 'multi-polar reality'. In the Euro-American context, it may have sounded a threat even to NATO, if not immediately. The evaporation of the 'Warsaw Pact' would have made NATO irrelevant after a point. The inevitable Euro-American race for a share in the emerging global economies and markets, and their re-emerging political differences at the end of the 'Cold War' would have moved on a logical path, if not to a logical conclusion, but for Osama bin-Laden and the Al-Qaeda striking at the US as they did on 9/11. <br /> <br /> Now with the US getting enmeshed in Iraq, and thus in the Gulf region, more than ever and more than intended, Europe seems to be seeing an opportunity for re-visiting its presence and 'pre-eminence' in global affairs from a near-forgotten past. 'Military might' is once again giving place to politics and diplomacy, where Europe still has a role in global affairs, and also seems to be aware of the same. <br /> <br /> The message, if any, may be clear. That wars can delay political diplomacy, but cannot eliminate it. The fact that Spain has signalled a return to the 'European world' after honeymooning with the US at the height of the 'Iraq War' may be a pointer, but the larger issue is something more. That wars, even of the post-9/11 era, may not really guide or change the course of politics and history, as perceived to be. That shorter the duration of the war, given the hi-tech methods employed, shorter would also be the time- taken by the world to return to its old and original ways. That the 'New Age Warfare' cannot replace a 'New World Order'. <br /> <br /> <em>* Views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Observer Research Foundation.</em>
The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.
PREV
